ANGUS HOWARTH

BRITONS are the top emigrants in the Western world with almost five million living overseas.

The nation has more of its citizens living abroad than any other leading Western country, according to UN figures.

The figures suggest Brits are more mobile than people from states with similar levels of development, including the US, Germany and France.

Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said: “There are potentially two things going on: there will be a significant number of British-born people going to the United States, Canada and Australia, often for lifestyle reasons, but a number will be going to work.

“Another component of emigration is that some of these people will be children of migrants who have come to the UK and are leaving or going home.”

An estimated 4.97 million people born in the UK had migrated to other states by the end of 2015.

Australia was the most popular destination, followed by the US, Canada, New Zealand and Bangladesh.

The UK-born population living overseas is the highest in the EU, followed by Poland (4.4 million); Germany (4 million); Italy (2.9 million); and France (2.1 million).